Dallas attorney Jamey Newberg has been covering the Texas Rangers, from the big club down through the entire farm system, since 1998. His website can be found at www.newbergreport.com.

The Josh Hamilton documentary.

There were probably
20 times during MLB Network’s Josh Hamilton documentary, which aired tonight
and which I just finished watching, that I tucked away some sort of reaction that
I planned to sit here and write down after it ended.A couple times during the hour-long program I
thought to myself, “Wish I had a pen to jot some of this down.” Each time the next thought, instantly, was, “Glad
I don’t.”

It would have been a
mistake to water down the experience by taking notes, instead of just absorbing.

And it would be
senseless to try and remember it all now and make some lame attempt to put it
into words.There were lots of chills watching it, both the
uplifting kind and the other kind, and, like Hamilton always seems to do, as naturally
and effortlessly as he swings and runs and throws, he and his story and his
ability and his character made me proud to be a fan of him, of our team, of this
game.

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It is my understanding that you are an attorney. Well i like Josh Hamilton as a player. But i am growing weary of his “feel good story”. I know Josh has taken full responsibility for his wrong choices. I believe it was something around 7 relapses. The bottom line is he made the choice and paid his dues because of those choices. It isn’t like he contracted cancer and overcame it. He invited it into his life. Since you are based in Dallas, Texas why don’t you and your law firm buds, go down to south Dallas and try to find some other feel good stories. Oh wait they don’t play baseball down there.

As an attorney, i am sure you are familiar with the terms cause and effect. Sure you have used it in court as in, but for your client’s conduct, my client wouldn’t have been harmed. So pony up and pay us our money and give me my 4%. Keep billing those hours Newberg or you will be out of a job. Did you ever think that it just might be easier to have become a salesman? Oh Josh for ambassador to Columbia. Josh cures cancer, Josh cures the sick and makes the blind see. Oh Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night, beat a heroin addiction yet no feel good story. Just why is it a feel good story that Josh quit using drugs and fullfilled his God given talent. Say no to drugs as Nancy Reagan said. The world is littered with people who have destroyed their lives with controlled substances including alcohol. The fact that some of those people got help stopped and led productive lives isn’t something that should be lauded. It is what they should have been doing in the first place. I am sure if Josh weren’t a five tool player you and the Rangers wouldn’t care a lick about him. The way the Rangers and you tout his overcoming his addiction you would think you would be putting some money over into some AA meetings or at Cenikor. Hicks is so against substance abuse why does he sell $6.50 Beer at the ballpark?

dwi, your misanthropic view of humanity has caused you to completely miss the message in Josh Hamilton’s story. Not just the MLB network story but his actual life story as it is being played out before our eyes. This is not just redemption for a five-tool player who lost his way. It is a glimmer of hope in the darkness that surrounds the lives of all mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers and wives and husbands who have watched helplessly as a cherished individual sinks deeper and deeper into a life that we can’t begin to comprehend. If Josh was able to free himself from the vortex that was drawing him towards his own destruction, maybe there is hope yet that others can succeed after five, six or seven soul-crushing defeats.

Do you think that the fact that you never lost yourself in substance abuse somehow makes you superior to those that have? Do you think that the parents of all those lost children did not tell them “Just say no”? Do you think that the journalists who now fawn over Josh were the ones who helped him to escape from his personal hell? No, it was his grandmother and his good and true friends who knew in their hearts that here was a life worth fighting for. Sure, if Hicks threw some money at the problem, maybe some kids would be helped, but most of these lost souls will only be saved when a hand is extended to them at the exact time when they are ready to accept the help. Maybe some of the journalists like his story only because it is
“good copy”, but I have to believe that there are some who want to tell this story because they think that maybe it will inspire a friend or a family member to, once more, forget about the failures and try once more to try to save a life. Why can’t you get that?

Josh Hamiltons story is not just a feel good story, its a story or a work in progress of a man and his demons. It is not hard to fall into traps all along lifes journey. It is hard however to escape these traps once your inside. Josh has nothing to gain by showing us his journey into hell other than possibly preventing someone else from making the same mistakes. His attitude both on the field and off are to be commended. I grow weary of emotionless athletes that have no love of the game and could care less about anyone on the planet. My hats off to Josh, Michael , Chris, Ian, and all the other Rangers who show me day after day that baseball is once again Americas game.

I am happy for Josh and his recovery and hope he stays clean as has been said above it is a daily struggle. But let me point out a few other feel good stories and there names. Steve Howe and Sidney Ponson. Lets play the Devils Advocate and ask this question. What happens if Josh falls off the wagon and re-offends? Then what?

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